After a nice visit with family at the farm in Adair, we headed about 225 miles northwest to Cedar Falls, Iowa, where we would meet up with an old friend of Kent’s from the 1970’s in New York.

Cedar Falls, home to the University of Northern Iowa, is a city of approximately 40,000 inhabitants. Cedar Falls, along with the neighboring city of Waterloo are known as the Cedar Valley due to the Cedar River that traverses the vicinity. First settled in 1845 by William R. Sturgis and Erasmus D. Adams the city was originally called Sturgis Falls. Because of the availability of water power, Cedar Falls developed as a milling and industrial center prior to the Civil War.

We met up with Jenifer, a friend of Kent’s, who lived in the same apartment building in New York City in 1970. They have remained friends for all of these years. Jenifer grew up in Cedar Falls where her father worked at the university. She recently moved back to Cedar Falls from Syracuse where she had lived for some time.

We had lunch with Jenifer and her sister Mary at a local sports bar restaurant called Pepper’s. Like many sports bars, the food is mostly fried and contains lots of calories. After lunch we went to Mary’s home which is actually the home that Jenifer and Mary grew up in. Their parents lived there until their dad passed away and their mother moved to a senior living facility in 1989, where Jenifer now resides. Mary baked a delicious peach cobbler for dessert with vanilla ice cream. Yum!!

The home they grew up in is a lovely large two-story traditional home with an enclosed porch, a basement and a large attic. It has three bedrooms upstairs, one with an attached sun porch, a formal living and dining room, a family room, eat-in kitchen and two bathrooms. It retains much of its original charm with dark wood window sashes, hardwood floors, paneling and generous sized rooms.

At about 5:00pm we headed over to a pub that is in the same senior facility where Jenifer lives for a drink and some appetizers. The pub is part of an enclosed main street where the local community is invited to participate in activities at the community, including this pub. On Friday evenings they have live entertainment, which on this evening was a local singer and pianist. We enjoyed getting to meet the executive director and some of the residents and community members at the pub.

After the pub, Jenifer took us on a driving tour around Cedar Falls. We saw lovely tree lined neighborhoods with traditional homes as well as all sorts of retail shops and restaurants. It appears to be a charming university town with lots of things to do and places to go. Unfortunately, they also have this thing called winter even though it was about 88 degrees today.

Jenifer had arranged a room/apartment for us at her senior facility for two nights. It was a great, comfortable place for us to stay at a very reasonable price ($75 per night).

This morning we had a meeting with the farm operators Dave and Steve to discuss the removal of some buildings and trees that need to be removed.

For lunch we met a second cousin of Kent’s named Nancy on the Macomb square at a place called Chubby’s. They offered a variety of salads, tacos, sandwiches and fish dishes. We had an enjoyable time catching up on the extended family.

After lunch we visited the Pennington Point Cemetery located near Macomb, Illinois where Kent’s parents and many relatives are buried. The cemetery is only about two acres in size but has been there since its first burial in 1834. In 1881 or 1882, it was surveyed and laid out into lots. The cemetery name comes from John Stuart Pennington who donated the land for use as a cemetery.

We spent the afternoon with Kent’s cousin Lennie’s wife, Bonnie, who is the mother of Steve and Dave. They have a farm just across the street from one of Kent and Dedra’s two parcels of land. While we were visiting inside, Steve, Dave and Blaine were cleaning out the last storage bin of their corn to be sold at a grain elevator in Adair. The bin cleaning process required the boys to get into the storage bin with shovels to assist the auger in clearing out the remaining kernels of corn. After cleaning out the bin Mark had a chance to ride one of the small tractors.

For dinner, the family headed to a nearby township called Bernadotte with a population of about 275 residents. The Bernadotte Café is a restaurant and bar that serves up pork tenderloins, fish, burgers and homemade specials. Several of us had the famous tenderloin sandwiches. We only had the 1/2 tenderloin portion sandwiches but they also come in a ¼ and full tenderloin sizes. Pepper jack cheese and onion rings finish off the sandwich.

Late this morning we headed from Glen Ellyn to Adair, Illinois, where Kent’s family has had family farms for over 125 years. The 215-mile drive took us about four hours with a couple of rest stops along the way. 

Adair is a small farming community in McDonough County with a population of only 212 residents. Adair was laid out in 1870 under the name of “Reedyville” though the name has never been officially changed. The name is known as Adair because that name was given to the post office. The Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroad runs through the east side of Adair. Interestingly, the two men who laid out the village of Reedyville in August of 1870 were Kent’s second great grand uncle John H. Reedy along with John’s brother in law Jacob A. Grim. 

We visited both family farms inherited by Kent and his sister, Dedra, to see how the crops of corn and soy beans were looking. We also have a few maintenance issues that need tending to. Both farms have deteriorating buildings that need to be torn down but we haven’t been able to get it accomplished for about five years now.  This is due to pandemic delays, but also the lack of people who do this type of work and the cousins who manage the farms not making time to clean out the old equipment in the structures. We also have a tree that is in very poor condition and needs to be removed before a limb falls and hurts someone. 

Kent and Dedra have two second cousins (Steve and Dave) who manage the farms and farm the land under a crop share agreement. Steve and Dave’s father Lennie, who is now deceased, is a cousin of Kent’s and their family owns land in the same area. Lennie farmed the family farms for the family for most of his life. 

When we visit the farm, we stay in the neighboring town of Macomb, founded in 1830 and is about 12 miles away. Macomb is home to Western Illinois University and has a population of about 15,000 residents including the university which has a student body of about 7,500 students this fall. Macomb was named after General Alexander Macomb, a general in the War of 1812. Macomb’s major manufacturers include Farm King and Pella Windows.

Macomb has a beautiful old historic square built around a gorgeous brick county courthouse built in 1871. Like most rural towns, the downtown area has struggled to keep tenants as most businesses are now located in newer strip malls along main streets and have left the historic downtown. 

Nine family members gathered at Vitali’s Italian Restaurant, one of the few restaurants in Macomb, for dinner. We enjoyed catching up with the family and hearing about what they have been doing. Steve and his wife Ashley have two children, Audrey and Blaine. Audrey graduated from college in the spring and has just started teaching 5^th grade at the same school in which her mother teaches 1^st grade. Blaine just started a two-year associates degree program in farm management. 

After a relaxing morning at the house having coffee, feeding the ducks, squirrels and chipmunks, we headed out to the Naper Settlement in Naperville, Illinois. Established in 1969, Naper Settlement, through a management agreement with the City of Naperville, operates under the direction and governance of the Naperville Heritage Society, whose mission is to “document, preserve and interpret the community life of Naperville, Illinois, including, but not limited to the social, political and business history. Naper Settlement is a family-friendly outdoor history museum featuring 13 acres of learning and interactive opportunities for all ages. Located in downtown Naperville, Naper Settlement is just steps away from dining, shopping, and the Riverwalk. Visitors are immersed in history as they learn about the past and how it relates to the present, from pioneer times to today. Highlights include special events, programs and activities year-round, both on and off-site.

Dedra, Kent and I took a 90-minute walking tour of the grounds exploring all of the historic buildings like the Post Office, the blacksmith shop, the print shop, the fire station, a log home, a school house and a chapel. In the basement of the main visitor center is an extensive museum of local Naperville history. Also, on the property is the Pine Craig mansion where we took a 30-minute tour. The Pine Craig mansion is the Martin family’s grand home which was also a place of business.

In 1883, George Martin built a new home for his family on the rural edge of downtown Naperville. Called Pine Craig, the mansion stood on Locust Hill near Martin’s limestone quarries along the DuPage River. Martin’s quarrying business boomed after the Great Chicago Fire of 1871, when Chicagoans needed stone to rebuild their devastated city.
The Martins’ home, which stood near the quarries, closely tied their personal and business lives together, with dynamite blasts and clouds of limestone dust interrupting family meals. Pine Craig’s brick, tile, and stone showcased the building materials produced by George Martin’s operations. Martin met with customers in his home office, working with his daughters. Architect Joseph A. Mulvey designed Pine Craig for George Martin in the Victorian Eclectic style in 1883. After George Martin’s death in 1889, his widow and daughters stayed at Pine Craig, maintaining the family’s businesses by becoming active partners and managing their 200 acres estate.

In 1936, Martin’s daughter and last surviving heir, Caroline Martin Mitchell, created a living legacy that has lived, thrived, and expanded well into the 21st century. Through a perpetual charitable trust, she appointed the City of Naperville as the trustee of her family’s 212-acre estate. She outlined the terms and conditions to ensure that her land would be an ever-evolving legacy to the Martin family by securing Pine Craig as a museum; her orchards as a place to gather her community, and by dedicating the remaining acreage to the public good and stipulating that her lands be used to fund her museum when necessary. Today, Caroline’s vision is still being realized, and her 212 acres play a central role in shaping Naperville. Her home and orchards are now Naper Settlement. Caroline’s remaining land has shaped Naperville into a thriving epicenter of growth and progress with a variety of community assets, including Naperville Central High School, Rotary Hill, Knoch Park, the Naperville Garden Plots, Von Oven Scout Reservation, Sportsman’s Park, Edwards Hospital, Naperville Cemetery, and more.

The Century Memorial Chapel was designed in the Prairie Gothic style popular in Illinois at the time. In rural areas like Naperville, timber was more accessible than stone, the typical material used for Gothic structures. The shape of the chapel is constructed in the shape of a cross and builders encouraged churchgoers to look up to the heavens by adding details to the ceiling that would draw one’s eyes up.

We departed home for the airport at 4:00am for our 6:15am direct flight to Chicago’s O’Hare Airport where we were scheduled to arrive about 12:45pm. Unfortunately, after boarding the plane the pilot announced that during his pre-check he noticed that there was an issue with his oxygen mask and it would need to be replaced. This small repair which shouldn’t take long became an hour and a half to repair. We finally got on our way to Chicago where we picked up our rental car and headed to Kent’s sisters’ (Dedra and Pete) home in Glen Ellyn, a western suburb of Chicago.

Dedra and Pete have a beautiful home situated on a small pond with ducks, squirrels, chipmunks and other birds. It is a tranquil spot to sit outside and enjoy the natural beauty of the pond and the wildlife.

After a short visit, the four of us headed out to pick up some food at Boston Market to take dinner to a niece’s (Ari and Travis) home in Bolingbrook. They have two young girls who were busy entertaining us with stories, toys, playdough and just being children. After a long day of travel, we retired early.